"We have experienced many
late deliveries during the past week due to the weather
shutting down truck lines." (Plastics & Rubber
Products)

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi's
Chris Rupkey says manufacturing has a cold:

"Net net, ISM manufacturing
fell off a cliff, and markets will have to rely on our analysis
of the report stating 51.3 for the overall index is still above
50 so the manufacturing economy is still expanding. Please
ignore that it fell 5.2 points this month. Markets are
always held captive by the latest reports. We can say
ignore today’s decline, it is due to inclement weather, but we
really have to wait to see if the number bounces back after the
weather warms back up in the next few months. Manufacturing
caught a cold this month, keeping our fingers crossed it is not
the start of something more serious."

We
just learned growth in Markit Economics' reading for U.S.
manufacturing slowed.